Summary
Peacemaker returns in Season 2 to a slightly altered DCU, but Episode 1 showcases the same sublime Cena performance and demented sense of humour – not to mention a surprisingly introspective multiverse premise.
Peacemaker is back for Season 2, and not just back, but back into a new DC Universe. Call me naive, but I didn’t think that’d necessarily matter as much as it does in Episode 1, “The Ties That Grind”. James Gunn clearly wasn’t just interested in contributing to the DCU, but remoulding it in his image, and the ret-con that supplants the Justice League cameo in the Season 1 finale with the Justice Gang introduced in Superman makes that point clear. Christopher Smith is entering a whole new world – or several worlds, as the case may be.
That seems to be the point this time around. The second season of Peacemaker is a multiverse story right out of the gate, which, for once, feels pretty relevant to its title character’s backstory, personality, and specific anxieties. The early portions of this premiere remind us of what Chris is about, give us an idea of how he’s struggling to find his place in this new, shaken-up status quo, and then offer him a glimpse of an alternate life not so marred by tragedy and misfortune. His brother, the one he accidentally killed, is alive. And his father is presumably not an abusive racist supervillain. Perhaps there, Chris will fit in.
This is a compelling idea. It grows organically out of the first season’s climax, which is left mostly unchanged except for the Justice Gang swap and a slightly new dance intro, and feels very on-brand for both Gunn as a creator and Peacemaker as a character. World-saving plots are ten-a-penny, and as satisfying and surprising as all the Project Butterfly stuff was in Season 1, there are only so many times the world can be saved before the people saving it need to look inward. I have no idea where the rest of the season might be going, but for now, at least, Peacemaker is taking a long, hard look at itself.
This is right for Chris, who discovers a door to another world in the pocket dimension where he keeps his gear, and indeed for Harcourt, who can’t get another job in an intelligence agency after being blackballed by Amanda Waller. There’s a lot of deliberate mirroring here. Chris’s interview with the Justice Gang – presented as much more snidey than they were in Superman, it should be said – parallels Harcourt’s interview with the NSA, where it’s determined she has an acute case of toxic masculinity. She proves this by assaulting her car dashboard and then, later, several rednecks in a country dive bar.
Season 1’s supporting cast is faring better, but only slightly. Leota maintains a friendly relationship with Chris but is trying to strike out as a freelancer, Economos is still working for A.R.G.U.S., which is now under the command of Rick Flag Sr., who has an understandable grudge against Peacemaker for killing his son in The Suicide Squad, and Vigilante is working at a fast food joint while trying – obsessively, one might argue – to stay in contact with the rest of the gang. Nobody’s living the high life here.
You can understand, then, what’s compelling for Chris about the chance to live a life based on all of the worst parts of his current existence happening differently, where his brother is alive and his dad isn’t a racist and he’s in a relationship with Harcourt, instead of being constantly rebuffed by her after a one-night stand. Where he’s a beloved superhero, not a joke. Where he has purpose and respect. Naturally, it takes our Chris about five minutes to ruin it.
The cliffhanger Peacemaker Season 2, Episode 1 leaves us with is Chris being discovered by this universe’s version of himself, leading to a fight in which our Peacemaker accidentally kills the other one. I’m not sure what the Butterfly Effect-style repercussions of that might be, but I’m pretty confident it’ll be a lot of fun finding out. And, thankfully, it seems that Gunn isn’t entirely committing to the multiverse concept, with ongoing “real world” storylines still playing out while Chris is otherwise occupied. This show was so much fun in its first season, back when superhero properties were much more eagerly anticipated and well-received than they are today. In this climate, Season 2 of Peacemaker might just be the shot in the arm the whole genre needs.
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